QWE2002 Tutorial D2 Mr. Otto Vinter (Independent Consultant) Introduction to Defect Analysis

Key Points

• How to perform defect analysis.
• Which taxonomies and techniques exist.
• What results can you expect; and how to use them for improvements.

Presentation Abstract

This half-day tutorial will introduce you to the concepts and techniques of defect analysis. You will learn how to analyse defects in your own organisation, and what benefits you can achieve. The tutorial will explain the different defect categories in the currently most comprehensive Bug Taxonomy (by Beizer). I will demonstrate how I used this taxonomy to perform defect analysis in practice on a number of projects, and I will share my results with you. I will also give an overview of other defect classifications and techniques e.g. Orthogonal Defect Classification (by Chillarege e.a.), and show how they might be used.

However, performing defect analysis is of little value if you cannot use the results to correct problems in or improve your software development practices. I will demonstrate how you can use the data from defect analysis to introduce focused improvements in your organisation. I have used defect analysis successfully on a number of projects at Brüel & Kjaer. I have demonstrated improvements to the testing and the requirements engineering processes based on the results of defect analysis. At previous QWE conferences I have reported on these experiences. However, I have not previously presented the defect analysis technique itself.

About the Author

Otto Vinter is an independent software engineering mentor. He is also employed as project manager specialising in software process improvements with the Danish software engineering consulting company DELTA.

Previously, he was responsible for software process improvements at Brüel & Kjær. He has been the driving force in that company's improvement activities in testing, requirements engineering, development models, and introduction of object-oriented development methods. Most of the process improvement activities have been based on findings from analysis of defects.

He has managed software development projects for 30 years. He received his Masters Degree in Computer Science from the Danish Technical University in 1968. He is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars, performs mentoring activities for clients, and is an expert evaluator on the framework programmes of the CEC.

More information can be found at: http://inet.uni2.dk/~vinter/engindex.htm